Boomboxes to Matchbooks

I grew up after the age of records, but well before the innovation that digital media has brought to the music industry.  I listened to cassette tapes for my most of my childhood.  Playing my tapes on my Boombox, I was the epitome of cool.  I would listen patiently for my favorite song to come on the radio and eagerly hit the record button to capture it on tape.  Into my later teens, I got my first portable CD player.  I would stick it into the pocket of my oversized jeans and listen to the same disc over and over again.  It wasn’t very convenient to carry your CD collection with you when walking around town.  My son will be able to fit more songs than he can even imagine onto a music player the size of a matchbook.  It won’t even matter what songs he has downloaded anyway.  He will simply be able to pull up the song over his smartphone whenever he wants to hear it.  In the big scheme of things, you might ask why it matters.  Why even give any thought to this subject?  Maybe it doesn’t matter, but maybe it is just a small look into a much bigger generational change.  We are currently raising a generation that no longer needs to be patient or selective on something as simple as music.  They are growing up to expect that whatever song they want to listen to will be available whenever they want to hear it. That attitude of impatience, the expectation of instant gratification, the ability to have it all will shape our children in ways that we can’t even foresee.  What else will my son expect now?

Recording Life

When I was growing up, we didn’t stop to record our lives.  We just lived them.  As children, we would groan if our parents pulled us away from our fun to stop and pose for a picture.  As a teenager, it was a rare treat when one of my friends would have a camera.  We would excitedly take pictures and wait for the next week to look at the prints.  Digital media has changed all that.  People now take more pictures than ever.  A couple years ago I read an article that stated that every two minutes, we take more pictures than in all of the 1800s.  My son is growing up in a world where people, not only record their lives, they share them with the world.  Nothing is done or said with out a post or a tweet.  People are more excited about how many likes their picture gets than they are about what they are actually doing.  It is hard to disconnect.  I am guilty of it myself.  You look around and everyone’s face is buried in a phone.  They forget to open their eyes and just enjoy life.  It is nice to stay connected.  I enjoy living in a world where I can easily watch my niece and nephews grow up even though they live half way across the country.  It is good to be able to share your accomplishments with the world, but the sharing doesn’t stop there.  Embarrassing moments become YouTube sensations.  Everything is recorded, good or bad.  And moments are missed.   They are recorded in photos and videos to share with the world, but they are missed.  People are so busy taking pictures of the roses that they forget to stop and smell them.  I don’t want my son to forget to live life because he is too busy recording it.